Argentina prevails in a Cup qualifier
Juan Roman Riquelme scored off two first-half free kicks Saturday and Argentina beat Chile, 2-0, in the opening World Cup qualifier for both teams at Buenos Aires.
Riquelme notched his goals in the 26th and 45th minutes against a Chilean team that has never beaten its South American rival and is already in a hole as it attempts to qualify for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.
A playmaker who helped Argentina to second place in July’s Copa America, Riquelme booted in smooth, precise shots that beat Chilean goalkeeper Claudio Bravo to the left upper corner of the net each time.
In other World Cup qualifiers, Venezuela beat Ecuador, 1-0, Uruguay topped Bolivia, 5-0, and Uzbekistan defeated Taiwan, 9-0.
Germany became the first team to qualify for the European Championship with a 0-0 draw at Ireland, and Scotland made things a lot tougher for both Italy and France to follow.
Scotland beat Ukraine, 3-1, to retain first place in Group B and increase the likelihood that one of the two World Cup finalists will be missing from next year’s tournament in Austria and Switzerland.
France defeated the Faeroe Islands, 6-0, but the team is still two points behind Scotland, which has 24 points. World champion Italy has 23 points after beating Georgia, 2-0.
Only the top two teams from each of the seven qualifying groups advance.
Germany qualified with three matches to spare. Playing without injured stars Miroslav Klose and Michael Ballack, the Germans rarely threatened but needed only one point to advance.
Italy won with goals from Andrea Pirlo and Fabio Grosso. If Italy wins at Scotland on Nov. 17 and against the Faeroe Islands at home four days later, it will also qualify.
England won its fifth consecutive qualifier, 3-0, this time beating Estonia. Wayne Rooney scored his first for England since the 2004 European Championship, Shaun Wright-Phillips scored and Taavi Rahn added an own-goal.
But England is still second in Group E with 23 points, three less than Croatia, which beat Israel, 1-0. Eduardo Da Silva scored the lone goal for Croatia.
Romania beat the Netherlands, 1-0, when Dorin Goian scored in the 72nd minute off a rebound. Romania leads Group G with 23 points, three more than the Dutch team.
Sweden moved closer to a fifth straight berth in a major championship, beating Liechtenstein, 3-0, in Group F. Spain beat Denmark, 3-1, and is tied atop the group, and Latvia beat Iceland, 4-2.
Top scorer Abby Wambach scored twice and captain Kristine Lilly also got a goal for the U.S. women’s team, which stumbled early but scored four times after the break in a 5-1 exhibition victory over Mexico at St. Louis. The U.S. had a 30-5 edge in shots.
Heather O’Reilly and Carli Lloyd also scored for the U.S., 18-1-3 this year with the lone loss coming against Brazil in the semifinals of the World Cup last month. Coach Greg Ryan’s decision to start Briana Scurry in goal in that game led to harsh criticism from Hope Solo, who had allowed only two goals in four Cup games.
Solo, on the roster for the season-ending three-game exhibition series against Mexico, apologized to Ryan and her teammates in a statement issued about a half-hour before the game. She decided not to suit up and sat at the end of the bench.
The U.S. team’s first appearance in St. Louis since 1998 drew a crowd of 10,861 at 65,000-seat Edward Jones Dome.
